Do you love apartments? Do you think we need more apartments? If you do, then this is the contest for you! I love apartments and almost all of my Sims live in one at some point in their life span. There are a lot of fabulous apartments out there, but I think we could use more variety in the types of apartments available. And what better way to go about that than have an apartment mania contest!

Contest setup
The contest is only for TS2. It will have four rounds. For each round you will be tasked to build an apartment complex that's either a specific style, or geared towards something specific. There is no application round. To apply you post that you are interested in participating, and make sure you include the words "apartment mania" in your post. Contestants have one week to sign up, then the first round starts. Each round is 2 weeks, when one ends the next one starts right away. Judges have one week to finish their scores. This means you won't get your scores until half-way through the next round, so be prepared to make some changes based on feedback.
-> Total contest duration 10 weeks (1 week application, 8 weeks for rounds, 1 week final scoring).

20 contestants allowed. Also room for 10 play-alongs. If a contestant drops out during the first round (defined as posting they are not participating, or failing to submit an entry by the time round 1 ends), the first play-along will be offered to take their place and so on (please note play-along has to have submitted their play-along entry before timer ends!). After that board is final and whoever is in, is in.

APPLICATIONS EXTENDED
Since there is still room in the contest I have decided to continue to allow applications until the first week of round one is over. Please note that entering late does not give you more time to finish round one, your build must be submitted by the time timer for round one runs out. Come join our apartment building fun!

Beginners allowed but not beginners contest
Beginners are very welcome to join, but scoring will be done assuming some experience. If you haven't built a functional apartment before I would suggest signing up as a play-along. Apartments can be tricky to build as they are finicky with their requirements, so some experience is advisable. But if you want to give it a go you are most welcome to

Rules

CC - Windows/Doors/Fences/Stairs only
For all intents and purposes consider this a CC free contest. But because I know how limiting it can be to try and make exteriors look nice with maxis content I have decided to allow CC for windows, doors (arches are considered to be doors), fences and stairs. This way you aren't limited to the choices Maxis gave us, and can do things like open underneath stairs or use the many great window add on sets.

If I have missed some kind of CC that is needed to make your apartment design function as an apartment please let me know what it is and I will let you know if it's allowed.

CC exceptions
There's lots of CC out there, and if you want to use something that is only required on your end and would not be required for a potential downloader, then you may. Examples of CC that would be allowed is SEP, sky boxes, water texture default replacements and so on. I would encourage people to present the lot as it would look to a downloader in their game, but it is up to you. Note that you are not allowed to use mods to cheapen price on furniture to save on rent (magic wand etc).

If you want to be absolutely sure it won't result in penalty I'd suggest you double-check with me first, just to avoid misunderstandings.

Budget & size
There are no strict rules on size or budget of lots (except round 2 which has budget restrictions). This is because I want you guys to be able to be as creative as you want to be, and not be limited in your vision. However, I recommend you keep rents at a reasonable level so that Sims could actually afford living there and try to keep lot size at a reasonable level, so that your lot is playable on an average computer. You don't have to, but it's appreciated

Recommended rent: If it's for two Sims, 6000 and below. If it's for one Sim, 4000 and below. Recommended size : 4x4 and below

Rent and size is judged in host bonus points. If you choose to go above the recommendations, please explain why in your post and if I think it makes sense I will still award you the host bonus points. Each is 1 point, so ignoring this will at most cost you 2 points out of the 80 possible points per round. For more information about scores see below.

Screenshots
All screenshots must comply with MTS Creator Guidelines (found here). Photoshopping not allowed, except for rent-picture. You may add text tags on floor plan shots if you want to, but no editing outside beyond that.

To facilitate judging all screenshots must be attached to your post.

Required screenshots
- Front view picture (low enough angle to show structure well, remove any obscuring landscaping for this picture)
- Back view picture (Must show the entire back view, if it can't fit change angle or do two pictures)
- Floor plan (one per floor of structure + one at ground floor level of the entire lot)
- One picture showing rents for each unit, please crop together all rents in the same picture. (see below for help on this) - apthack allowed (doesn't affect rent so if you want to show prices with apthack in place that's fine)
Note: Required screenshots gives you 1 picture per floor. If you do more than one structure and one to screenshot them individually you will have to use your bonus shots.

Additional shots
You may add an additional 8 shots of the structure (what part you show is up to you), and an additional 6 for each unit up to a maximum of 24 pictures of units. So the maximum you could have is required screenshots and 24 + 8 = 32.Note: Picture limits were raised for round 2 and on. Numbers listed above are the round 2 and onward limits.

RoundsRound 4 - Big complexes
In this final round we want to see you stretch your wings and build something big! Style is up to you, but we want to see something that screams apartment. That means at least two floors, with units on top of each other, and at least 6 units. We know some people dislike having non-playable neighbours, but in this round we want to see something intended to experience all the aspects of apartments and that means non-controllable neighbors!

There's no need to go gigantic and build 10 story buildings. If you want to do 6 small units that's up to you. By big we mean room for many households. There has to be at least one unit that is on top of another, but if you want to have units that are two-stories as well that's up to you.

Requirements
- Must have at least 6 units
- Minimum 2 floors (ground floor and foundation is considered the same level for this purpose)
- At least one unit that is on top of another unit
- Fully furnished units

Round 1 - Row house / townhouse
For this round you are tasked with building an apartment complex in the style of a rowhouse/townhouse. Each unit should be more like a proper house, somewhere you might actually live for a long period of time and not a temporary stop on your way to buying a house. In this round we want to see units on a row, rather than on top of each other. It is up to you if you want to do it in a city-style with a solid line of facade, or a more suburbian take with a more traditional house-like structure that's separated into 2-4 units.

The goal of this round is to provide slightly larger units for households with a bit more money. You may do a smaller unit if you want to, but the idea is that these units are more proper homes. At least one unit should be suitable for a family, and 2 bedroom-units are encouraged but not required except for the family unit.

Round 2 - Cheap living
In real life, most people will live in some kind of apartment as their first housing. And why shouldn't our Sims get to do the same? So the goal of this round is to create suitable housing for a Sim that's just starting out. That means low rent, which means you have to be space economic! Since a lot of people live with roomies in the beginning, you may make units intended for 2 Sims

You are allowed to do hostel-type lots where the bathrooms/kitchens are communal, but each unit still has to be a proper home. No 2x3 units with a bed and a night table. If you save money by making kitchen or bathroom communal we expect the extra cash to be noticeable in the apartment in some other way.

Round 3 - Roomie mania
One of the best things about apartments (in my opinion) are roommates! With Squinge's multiple roommate mod you can have an apartment bustling with activity, without having to control or care about all of them. It's great! And to celebrate this great mod, this round is all about roommates.

In this round the task is to build an apartment complex where every unit is intended for 2 people or more. It is up to you if each person should have a separate bedroom, or if shared bedrooms should be a thing. Style is completely up to you, as long as every unit is suitable for households with at least two people that aren't in a relationship.

Scoring
Each round you can get a maximum of 80 points. Each judge can give up to 25 points, and there's an additional 5 points host bonus you can get. Play-alongs aren't scored, but get comments from gummilutt.

There are five categories, each category can give up to 5 pointsDeco: In this category you are scored on how aesthetic your lot is. Is the exterior nice? Is there good landscaping? Is the interior decorated? Are the colors harmonious? Build: In this category you are scored on how well built your lot is. Will it function as an apartment? Did you make good choices on roof, windows/doors etc?Playability: In this category you are scored on how playable your lot is. Do you have a good layout? Is the flow of the lot natural? Will Sims stomp a lot, or have to make long trips to back and forth to take care of needs? Creativity: In this category you are scored on how creative your build is. Did you make smart choices on the build elements you used? Did you use your space well? Requirement: In this category you are scored on how well you met the requirements of this challenge. Using CC (except windows/doors/fences/stairs) means no points in this category. Did you follow the listed requirements? Did you follow the spirit of the challenge set?

Host bonus - 5 points
To save time for judges, I have decided to pick 5 things that would be time-consuming for them to check and turned them into a host bonus awarded by me. I will check all entries and give you one point for each of the 5 things you've achieved, for a total of 5 possible points.
1 - Noise-proof bedrooms
2 - Each unit has unique furnishings
3 - Rent is reasonable (see above for recommendations)
4 - Size is reasonable (see above for recommendations)
5 - Required screenshots are included

Rent screenshot
To make your rent screenshot, finish your apartment build and change lot-zoning to apartment. Then go to hood-view and hover over the lot with your mouse-pointer and it'll show the rent span. Take a picture of that and add to your post

If you go over rent-recommendation and only some units are over-price I suggest you do individual unit rent shots by moving a Sim in to the lot and clicking on the doors of units to get their prices. That way you only have to motivate higher rent for the relevant units. If all units are over-price and need explaining then no need to do individual shots

Managing your rents
Apartment rent is a combination of floor space inside the apartment, and cost of fixtures. If your rent is too high you need to either reduce the amount of space, or use cheaper items. You are not allowed to use mods to cheapen the cost of items to reduce your rent.

Building apartment
If you've never built an apartment complex before, there is a simswiki-article on building apartments. Among other things it has the cheat required to change lotzoning to apartment.

There's also a lot of helpful information on sims wikia about how apartments work. Read article here.

Noise-proofing bedrooms
Neighbors in surrounding apartments generate noise which will disturb Sims, and wake them up if they are sleeping. So if you want a well-functioning apartment it's a good idea to noise-proof bedrooms. There are two ways to do this. Either you make sure the bedroom does not share a wall with a neighboring apartment, or you can block the noise. Noise is technically an object, and needs free space in front of the wall to be able to work, so if you make sure every tile in front of a shared bedroom wall is taken up by an object, there's no space for noise to be created. For more information on noise, see the sims wikia article linked above.

The Great Divide Fence
The low fence you can walk over from Pets is problematic in apartments. If you enclose a space in a room with the great divide it will be considered common space and will cause neighbors to barge in to the apartment to get to the perceived common area. This can be used to your advantage in some situations, but unless you know what you are doing I suggest you stay away from this fence.

If you do use it, I strongly suggest you explain your use (why did you use it? how will it affect how the unit works?)) to the judges so you don't risk losing playability points.

Building backyards on apartments with foundations
Requires extra preparation to work, one method is using an invisible fence. Tutorial - invisible fence.

Ah, sorry. Apartment Mania, since I've been building apartments lately anyway and may already have something that just needs CC replaced in all or most of the categories. Sign me up. And I hope I don't wimp out on you.

Forgot to add that in tips, thanks for reminding me. To noise-proof you either make sure the bedroom does not share a wall with a neighbor, as you suggested, or you blocking the wall with objects. If there's no room for a Sim to stand where the noise is and bang the wall in return then noise can't be created. I believe some decorations also block it, but not 100% sure on that one, need to re-test

Glad to you have you Peni!

If you have questions on how to use SimPE or WW, you're welcome to PM me.

I will be a playalong also, as I do love apartments myself AND with allmost no CC , means that at least my dl folder will not get any bigger :D

~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~

Past the point of no return,
No going back now,
Our passionplay is now begun.
Past thought of right or wrong, final question, how long have we wait before we're one?
~Andrew Loyd Webber (Phantom Of The Opera)

With regards to the No-CC aspect, where do we stand on default replacement roof trims and floor edging?

ETA: And default replacement bedding?

♫Cuz I don't have a home in this life, I have to roam. Got nowhere to lay my head, so I'll follow you instead, and set my gaze on the place I'm going to. Til then I'm homeless, but I'll roam with you...♫

Sorry about that. I love the concept of this contest, but I'm already participating in Jo's contest and my exams are coming soon, so signing up for this one might be a bit much. I might join as a playalong, though, or even as a full time contestant if by the end of the month you still have a free slot.

Woohoo! Wonderful to see the apartment love Signing you up NatteryakToad and Karen Lorraine! Yavannatw, you forgot something crucial in your post :3

I'd love to see you as a playalong Yvelotic, I loved your builds in wanderlust and would love to see what you come up with for this contest. But I think you are wise to be hesitant, no good to over-stretch. Could do a unofficial play-along, build if you feel like it and post if you want to, but no pressure to do it in any kind of time-frame

If you have questions on how to use SimPE or WW, you're welcome to PM me.

I have some ideas for this round and the last already, but my focus right now is finishing this round's reno for Jo's contest when I don't have a book in front of my face. So I won't guarantee I will be able to finish this round on time, though I will try. Thanks for having me as an unofficial playalong nonetheless.

In case I do end up as a contestant, I'll write another post with the magic words

Do you still need a judge? If so - I'd like to apply... What info do you need?
I've participated in many contests, and judged in Karen's Campus Contructor and Jo's Community Spirit contests.
I've also built/uploaded several apartments - which you can see in my profile here on MTS.
Let me know if you need me to post anything else to qualify

Awesome Catherine! I was actually hoping you'd be interested, was going to PM you and ask but now I don't have to Signed you up Need an EJ still, but regular judges now sorted

Sounds great Yvelotic! If you want to be a official play-along you are welcome to be that too, just thought it might be less pressure for you this way. And of course super welcome as a contestant if you decide you want to try that, as long as there's space left

If you have questions on how to use SimPE or WW, you're welcome to PM me.

I feel you on that HL! Hopefully moving this summer so dealing with bank is happening in a near future Added to board

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatteryakToad

With regards to the No-CC aspect, where do we stand on default replacement roof trims and floor edging?

ETA: And default replacement bedding?

Sorry, realized I forgot to answer your questions! Default replacement roof trim/floor edge yes, default replacement bedding no. Basically, if color can be changed in game with recolors default replacements are a no-go, since that's really just another way of doing a recolor and if that was allowed you could by-pass the custom content rule on all maxis content. But if there's no way to change it in game, then default replacements are okay.

If you have questions on how to use SimPE or WW, you're welcome to PM me.

*screams like a dolphin from the dephs of the MIA sea* OH APARTMENTS I LOVE THEE!! APARTMENT MANIA OOOOO APARTMENT MANIAAAA
I'm just gonna be a play along. I'm an admin at a forum RP right now and I'm also doing art commissions for a living - so who knows when I suddenly bibidibobidibluescadooed outta here again??
but apartments are just my jam. I can't miss out on this.

I'm terrible at building, so I do not want to participate, but I was wondering, are the lots generated by these contests typically uploaded somewhere? I do not see the ones from the Strangetown contest uploaded, but this contest looks promising, since I am always looking for more apartment lots for my game.